Carburetors



y 7, 1957 A. E. LAUDER 2,791,409

CARBURETORS Filed Sept. 26, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet l INV [NTOR ALFRED ERNEST LHUDER av Z I I I Aguw a I A. E. LAUDER May 7, 1957 CARBURETORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 26, 1952 mvENTbR ALFRED ERNEST LAUDER y 7, A. E. LAUDER 2,791,409

CARBURETORS Filed Sept; 26, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTDR ALFRED ERNEST LAUDER CARBURETORS Alfred Ernest Lauder, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Application September 26, 1952, Serial No. 311,614

7 Claims. (Cl. 261-41) This invention relates to improvements in carburetors in which fuels of all types such as gasoline, stove oil and other relatively heavy fuel oils, may be used.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my abandoned application Serial Number 616,673 filed September 17, 1945, and my abandoned continuation application Serial Number 718,831 filed December 27, 1946.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a carburetor in which relatively heavy fuels may be rapidly and efficiently atomized into an extremely fine vapour.

Another object is the provision of a carburetor in which the flow of air is stream-lined in order to reduce turbulence to a minimum so that the minute particles of atomized fuel introduced to said air flow mingle with the air and retain their finely divided state.

Attempts have been made to break up liquid fuel in carburetors by dispersing said fuel from a rotating body in a mixing chamber. These have not been very success ful :owing to the fact that in all these devices the air in the mixing chamber was in a highly turbulent state. This resulted in the minute particles of fuel being subjected to an intensive bombardment, that is, they were thrown together and against the walls of the chamber, resulting in the fuel being partially reduced to a liquid state, thereby defeating the purpose of the atomizing device. Furthermore, the rotating bodies themselves were unable completely to atomize heavy fuels.

In one form of this invention, fuel is discharged into a spinning cup at the bottom thereof, and this fuel is preferably rotating around the axis of the cup at the same speed as the latter at the moment of discharge. The fuel forms a layer over the surface of the cup which thins out towards its rim. Centrifugal force causes this thinning out resulting in a greater percentage of the fuel being in direct contact with the cup surface and as the latter is moving faster towards its rim, the speed of the fuel will not be diminished by its inertia. Thus, the fuelis discharged from the rim of the cup in an extremely finely divided state.

Another feature of this invention is the fact that the flow of air is streamlined to reduce turbulence to a minimum both before and after the atomized fuel is added to it. This streamlined flow of air is necessary so that the minute particles of fuel will not be subjected to undue churning, swirling, or impact with each other or with the walls of the chamber in which the mixing takes place.

It is wellknown in aerodynamics that all surfaces have alayer of air in contact with them and that this layer is. not easily broken or removed. According to this, each minute particle of fuel has a coating of air which separates it from all other particles. If the particles are subjected to shockor impact by bumping each other or the walls of the mixing chamber, the film of air about some of the particles is ruptured, allowing the particles to coalesce either in the airor upon the chamber walls. This results in solid fuel being directed into the engine where it is of no use whatsoever. This is a-waste of ired States Patent see Figure 1. An annular rim 36 projects downwardly fuel and it' even results in crankcase dilution and carbon formation. 1

The streamlined flow of air is directed towards the outlet of the mixing chamber and the latter is so de signed that the fuel particles are not subjected to shock or impact.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the carburetor, I.

Figure 2 is a reduced plan view thereof, Figure 3 is a reduced plan view of the mixing chamber with its cover removed and certain parts broken away,

Figure 4 is a reduced section taken substantially on the line 44 of Figure 1,

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section through an alternative form of the invention,-and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings, 10 is a,-

bowl-shaped mixing chamber, the walls of which gently curve inwardly from its upper edge and then in the opposite direction down to a central outlet 11 which is adapted to be connected to the intake manifold of an internal combustion engine, not shown. The mixing cham ber has a cover 12 in the form of a truncated cone secured thereto in any suitable manner, such as by bolts ings 17 formed therein. A choke ring 18 may be provided. This ring slidably fits on the collar 16 and has a plurality of openings 19 formed therein which correspond to the openings 17 and are adapted to be moved into and out of registry therewith by means of a wire control cable 20.

The conical grid or plate 14 is formed with a blank arm 25 at the apex and has a plurality of passages 26 extending therethrough between said blank area and the wall of the mixing chamber. Each of these passages is preferably longer than its diameter and as the latter must not be too small, this is accomplished by using a relatively thick plate, as shown, or by forming said plate with a boss at each passage. The grid or plate also is formed with a central depending boss 27 having a vertical bore 28 extending therethrough in which a thrust bearing 29 is positioned for rotatably supporting a vertical hollow shaft 30 extending through said bore and through abushing 31 in the closed end of the collar 16.

A conical atomizing cup 34 is fixedly mounted on the lower end of the shaft 30 in the mixing chamber 10 beneath the blank area of the plate 14. The wall of the cup extends upwardly from the base at a steep angle and tapers in cross section at its periphery to a fine rim 35,

from the plate 14 and terminates immediately above the rim 350]. the atomizing cup, leaving a narrow gap 37 therebetween. The shaft 30 has a plurality of radial outlets 40 at its lower endjust above the bottom of the cup.

. Each of these outlets is preferably longer than itsdiamchamber 10 by the suction of theengine, air is drawn, in through the openings 17 and must pass through the" eter' and for this purpose, the shaft may be formed with an' enlargement 41 at its lower end.

The shaft 30 may be rotated in any desired manner. One very efficient way of doing this is by means of an i v impeller disc 44 having blades 45 at its periphery, said disc being fixed to the shaft within the collar 16 just below the openings 17 thereof. The diameter of the disc is just a little less than the inner diameter of the collar so that when an area of low pressure is formed in the mixing a. conical plate extending across the chamber above the cup, said plate having a plurality of passages therethrough beyond the rim of the cup, each of said passages being longer than its diameter, and means for directing air through said passages past the cup towards the chamber outlet.

4. A carburetor comprising a hollow body divided by an apertured wall to define an air receiving chamber and a mixing chamber, said air receiving chamber having a controlled air inlet and said mixing chamber having a gas outlet remote from the apertured wall, a rotatingly mounted open cup concentric with the apertured wall, means for admitting liquid fuel into the cup, means for rotating said cup to disperse the fuel radially therefrom, a float chamber mounted upon the hollow body, said float chamber having a needle valve concentric with the cup, said cup being mounted upon a hollow shaft through which liquid fuel is delivered from the float chamber to said cup, said apertured wall having a depending rim aligned with the periphery of the cup and spaced therefrom to define a narrow annular space through which the fuel from the cup is dispersed across the apertured wall.

5. A carburetor comprising a bowl-shaped mixing chamber having a central outlet in the bottom thereof, a hollow vertical shaft extending down into the chamber, a conical atomizing cup fixed on the lower end of the shaft, said shaft having a plurality of radial outlets therein at the bottom of the cup; means for rotating the shaft and cup comprising an impeller disc mounted on the shaft above the cup, said disc having blades at its periphcry through which the air directed through the mixing chamber passes to rotate said disc; means for supplying fuel to the bore of the shaft, and means for directing a flow of air past the cup towards the chamber outlet.

6. A carburetor comprising a bowl-shaped mixing chamber having a central outlet in the bottom thereof, a hollow vertical shaft extending down into the chamber, a conical atomizing cup fixed on the lower end of the shaft, said shaft having a plurality of radial outlets therein at the bottom of the cup, means for rotating the shaft and the cup; means for supplying fuel to the bore of the shaft comprising a float chamber mounted on top of the mixing chamber, said float chamber having a passage communicating at one end with its interior and at the other end with the bore of the shaft, a needle valve in said passage for controlling the latter, and valve-controlled means for admitting fuel to the float chamber; and means for directing a flow of air past the cup towards the chamber outlet.

7. in a carburetor, a mixing chamber, screening means extending the full width of the chamber, means for supplying air to the chamber through the screen, said screening means stream-lining the flow of all air entering the chamber, a vertical hollow and rotatably mounted shaft projecting into the chamber beneath the screening means, means for rotating the shaft, and a conical cup mounted on the lower end of the shaft, said shaft having a plurality of radial outlets therein adjacent the bottom of the cup through which fuel may pass from the shaft interior into the cup.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,243,897 Thompson Oct. 23, 1917 1,468,119 MacLachlan Sept. 18, 1923 1,764,437 Elsasser June 17, 1930 1,933,380 Mock et al. Oct. 31, 1933 2,025,867 Hopes Dec. 31, 1935 2,143,904 Woodwell Jan. 17, 1939 2,150,296 Spencer Mar. 14, 1939 2,186,829 Haddock Jan. 9, 1940 2,229,313 Snyder Jan. 21, 1941 2,238,364 Hall Apr. 15, 1941 2,314,170 Snyder Mar. 16, 1943 2,374,699 Piquerez May 1, 1945 2,595,719 Snyder May 6, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 467,647 Great Britain June 21, 1937 512,101 Great Britain Aug. 29, 1939 

